New Jersey Coalition for World Class Math

A Partner of the U.S. Coalition for World Class Math

                                          Latest Updates

 

 

Also read Common Core News for more information

 2009 NAEP Math Scores 

 

  • Sluggish Results Seen in U.S. Math Scores (New York Times)
  • Fourth-Graders' Math Scores Stall After Two-Decade Climb (Washington Post)
  • NAEP Math Scores Idle at 4th Grade, Advance at 8th (Education Week)
  • Math tests: Fourth-grader progress stalls (Associated Press)

      Full report found here: http://nationsreportcard.gov  

    Failing math and science « Joanne Jacobs  Read the blog post and comments 

  • Read the commentary from U. S. Coalition co-founder, Barry Garelick, along with others in:   How to Improve National Math Scores - Room for Debate Blog - NYTimes.com   (read the comments too!)

  • UNLV researching why so many freshmen aren't ready for college - Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009 | 2 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun 

  • Read the NJDOE Memo to all Districts detailing the restricted use of calculators on the future NJASK tests for grade 3-8 here:

     NJDOE MEMO Sep. 2009 on restricting use of calculators in 2010 NJASK tests:  UpdateonMathematicsAssessments-UseofCalculators.pdf

     

     

     

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     6/1/09 : 46 States and D.C. to Pursue Common Education Standards - washingtonpost.com

     

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    3/22/09 
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    [SNIP] Duncan also cited a $5-billion "race to the top fund" to provide incentives to states already doing innovative, reform-minded work. He said there's been a "dumbing down of standards for political reasons" under the current system of states with their own benchmarks and standards. That system doesn't make much sense, he said, drawing applause, and it isn't doing students any favors in the global economy.

    He said there's a need for common, high standards that prepare students for college and the work force and for international benchmarks to compare U.S. students with their counterparts around the world.

    "I think in far too many states, meeting standards means you are at best barely qualified to graduate from high school, and you are woefully unprepared to go to college," he said. "We have been lying to children, and we are setting them up for long-term failure. That has to stop."

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    We are featured in Education Week - February 9, 2009
     
     
    Quotes: "The U.S. education system is already lagging behind some of its economic competitors, and the signatories to the policy paper agree it will only worsen if action is not taken today. But we can no longer afford to be lagging behind other countries in high school graduation rates (currently the U.S. is ranked 18th among developed nations) and math and science standards, while producing graduates who lack the world knowledge, skills, and perspectives to be successful in this global era.
    "Our national goals must therefore include ensuring that every student has access to a world-class education and producing an internationally competent workforce and informed citizenry," the paper said."
    Quote from the above USA Today article 12/9/08: "U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., who chairs the House Education Committee, welcomes the "significant gains" in math, but says it's "troubling that our students are still behind their international peers in both math and science — fields that are key to our nation's economic vitality and competitiveness. It's increasingly clear that building a world-class education system that provides students with a strong foundation in math and science must be part of any meaningful long-term economic recovery strategy."
     
    Quote: “While it is good news that fourth graders have made significant gains in math, it’s troubling that our students are still behind their international peers in both math and science – fields that are key to our country’s economic vitality and competitiveness” said Miller, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. “It’s increasingly clear that building a world-class education system that provides students with a strong foundation in math and science must be part of any meaningful long-term economic recovery strategy.”

    How to Solve Our Problem With Math: Three top schools in Los Angeles use different strategies to help students score in math and science  http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/high-schools/2008/12/04/how-to-solve-our-problem-with-math.html 
    The Forgotten Middle, recently published by ACT, Inc., states, "Our research shows, that under current conditions, the level of academic achievement that students attain by eighth grade has a larger impact on their college and career readiness by the time they graduate from high school than anything that happens academically in high school."
      
     
    Dec. 4, 2008
    Page 3, quote by Michael Cohen, President of Achieve Inc.  The Future of High School Reform - US News and World Report
    Can we get to where we want to be on high schools without national standards? And if not, what do we need to do to get to some kind of common curricular standards in this country?
    MICHAEL COHEN: Well, let's talk about what kind of standards we need, whether they're national or not. It seems to me what we need in education are standards that are anchored in the real-world demand that students are going to face, that they reflect what you need to know in order to succeed in postsecondary education and in the workplace. They need to be internationally benchmarked as well, because our students are going to enter a global economy. They are going to be competing with young people all over the world. They need to be focused on what's most essential rather than filled with things that would be nice for students to learn somebody. They need to be vertically aligned so there's a logical, clear progression from what you start learning when you enter kindergarten to where you're going to end up at the end of high school, and they need to be assessed well.
    Progress being made with Everyday Math program - Wayne Today  (Congratulations to member Robyn Kingston for getting our coalition's name in Wayne's newspaper!)

    VA Math Standards Washington Post

    National Groups Co-Host Briefing on 2006 PISA Results, Issue Joint Statement

    Bridgewater-Raritan math program under review | mycentraljersey.com | MyCentralJersey.com

     
     
     


    Elementary School Parent Believes 'Fuzzy' Everyday Math Leaves Westfield and U.S. Kids Behind the World
    As a parent of three children in the Westfield School District, I have been concerned about their math education, especially the elementary education. I researched this topic, looking at how the
    United States performed on International Math Tests and found that the U.S. ranked 12th out of 25 for fourth graders on the TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) in 2003 and 15th out of 25 by 8th grade. U.S. 15-yearolds were 26th on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)
    rankings. Including Asian countries, they ranked 31st. This is mediocrity at best for an industrialized nation.
    I then looked into state standards. In 2005, the NJ Core Curriculum Standards for Mathematics received a "D" by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a nonprofit organization that conducts research in education. Three states: California, Massachusetts and Indiana received an "A."
     
     Some of the reasons that N.J. received a "D" are: widespread use of calculators; the lack of memorization of basic facts; the rejection of teaching standard algorithms; insufficient instruction on fractions; obsession with patterns and manipulatives; the over emphasis of estimation, probability and statistics; not gradually increasing the difficulty of problem solving. All of these are characteristics of Westfield's Everyday Math curriculum, which is based on the failing NJ state standards.
     
     Any parent who has worked with their children on elementary school math will be familiar with at least some of the failing characteristics listed above. Parents may also be familiar with how poorly this curriculum prepares their children for middle school, where more traditional math begins to be taught.
     
    The National Advisory Math Panel just issued a report with 45 recommendations to address the lagging United States math scores. One key recommendation was any math program that revisits a topic
    year-after-year without closure should be avoided. This spiraling is exactly what Everyday Math does.
    I want Westfield to dare to be different. I ask that we demand performance equivalent to the top performing countries in the world like Singapore. States like California and Washington have rid themselves of these "fuzzy" standards. California studied what high performing countries in mathematics do and based their standards on what those countries do. California has even tied their state standards to questions from past international exams. Westfield must take steps to implement math programs consistent with California's and with the rest of the world.  We owe nothing less to our children to enable them to compete in the world that
    they will be living in as they grow up.

    Amy Flax
    Westfield

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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